Commercial real estate.

Leasing Goes Gangbusters At Historic Rookery, A Set For `Untouchables'

March 28, 1993|By Steve Kerch.

Maybe it has something to do with all the exposure the Rookery, or at least its entrance, has been getting on the new "Untouchables" television series as the setting for Al Capone's Chicago headquarters.

Whatever the reason, the Baldwin Development Co. restoration project at 209 S. LaSalle St. has been going gangbusters of late, snaring almost 60,000 square feet in new leases.

The most appropriate, considering the crime-fighting nature of the television show, would have to be the 20,600 square feet taken by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department. The agency will move its offices from 230 S. Dearborn St. to the 105-year-old building in August.

Brinson Partners, one of the Rookery's early tenants, has added another full floor of 24,400 square feet to its office space. The investment management firm now occupies four floors in the 12-story building.

Brinson's space includes the former private library of architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, who designed the Rookery. The restoration of the 19-by-27-foot room recently was completed under the direction of architect Gunny Harboe.

A third recent lease at the Rookery was for 12,800 feet by Banque Nationale de Paris, which will relocate from 200 N. LaSalle St. in July.

John McDonald, executive vice president of Baldwin, said the activity at the Rookery is noteworthy in an otherwise moribund office market downtown. And he said the fact that the 282,200-square-foot project is now 76 percent leased is a testament to the attractiveness of historic restorations.

"When we began this project, critics said it would never get done and that leasing would be nearly impossible," McDonald said. "This shows that qaulity (restorations) can win out in any market environment."

McDonald said that Baldwin, which has put in a bid with the City of Chicago to redevelop the Reliance Building, is seeking other renovation opportunities in the area.

In addition to the "Untouchables," the building has been a hit site location for movies "Home Alone II," in which it played a toy store; "A Public Eye," in which an office set was constructed on the 11th floor; and in "A League of Their Own," in which window displays were featured.

- Large industrial users, which contributed heavily to a strong year in industrial real estate in 1992, are at it again early in 1993.

Brokers with Grubb & Ellis are reporting two new major industrial deals, one which will see Reliable Office Supply Co. move out of the city to south suburban Lansing and another which will have Elek-Tek Inc. staying in its location in north suburban Skokie.

Reliable will relocate its warehouse and distribution operations from 325,000 square feet in two buildings at 1001 to 1033 W. Van Buren St. to 267,000 square feet in a single-story property at 16801 Exchange St. in Lansing.

Edward Adler and Vernon Schultz, who represented Reliable for Grubb & Ellis, said Reliable's Chicago property was no longer compatible with the company's modernized and computerized operations. Schultz said the new location will reduce Reliable's occupancy expenses significantly.

In the Elek-Tek transaction, brokers Mitchel Greenberg and Terrence O'Hara said that, after a comprehensive review of the market, the wholesaler and retailer of computers and electronic equipment elected to remain in 140,000 square feet at 7350 N. Linder Ave. in Skokie.

Greenberg said one of the determining factors for Elek-Tek was that the multitenant facility provided convenient access for employees.

Coupled with a third Grubb & Ellis transaction announced earlier, for Sweetheart Cup on the city's Southwest Side, the deals represent more than 1.1 million square feet of industrial leasing in less than three months.

According to Grubb & Ellis, for all of 1992, there were 8.7 million square feet of industrial space leased to users of 100,000 square feet or more, a 95 percent increase over 1991's numbers. Brokers said the 1992 number could easily be surpassed if the current level of activity holds up.

- An agreement signed last week by Baxter Healthcare Corp. with real estate giant Trammell Crow Co. will propel the companies into the hospital facilities consulting business, part of a broader Baxter effort to help hospitals reduce their operating costs.

The agreement also will significantly expand the scope of Trammell Crow's work for Baxter. In one of the biggest moves toward outsourcing of real estate work by a corporation, Deerfield-based Baxter two years ago formed an alliance with Trammell Crow. The Dallas-based real estate company handles leasing, property management and any build-to-suit development projects that health care giant Baxter has across the country.

Under the new program, consultants from Trammell Crow will also assess, at a hospital's request, how efficiently the hospital operates its facilities and then make recommendations to help minimize costs and protect the hospital's physical assets.